ML - Michigan Avenue

2014 - Issue 3 - May/June

Michigan Avenue - Niche Media - Michigan Avenue magazine is a luxury lifestyle magazine centered around Chicago’s finest people, events, fashion, health & beauty, fine dining & more!

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PHOTOGRAPHY BY NEIL RASMUS/BFA (MCKEE); BILL WALDORF (STORE) and develop people," she says, "and how to—in a big group— find the person who has something to give." Five years into her teaching career, McKee was recruited to join Estée Lauder's training program as an instructor in Spain. "At a party one New Year's Eve, a headhunter approached me a nd sa id, 'You spea k f luent English, Spa nish, French, a nd Italian. You've been a teacher, and you've got your university deg ree. We need someone like you in the t raining depart- ment.'" She rose quickly at Estée Lauder and went on to join Fenwick, a British department store. "I was a junior buyer, a fashion buyer, and from there I started to do fashion, accesso- ries, and cosmetics," she says. "And then Harrods called me to head up its beauty division. In 15 years I had seven promotions. Every two years I had a new challenge." McKee was credited with bringing fresh thinking and modernity to the legendary store, which appointed her chief merchant in 2011. She introduced edgier designers and one-of-a-kind pieces while championing young London-based names such as Jonathan Saunders. She brought in less- expensive lines, but dramatically raised prices, too. Harrods's international clientele didn't balk at gowns costing $100,000 as the store upped its high-fashion cool. "I had 20 percent annual comps every year for the last five years," McKee notes. In the last fiscal year, turnover increased 10 percent to a record £716.3 million. So why leave? When Baker came calling last summer, McKee hesitated. "It's a tough choice when you have a home set up, and you have family and friends around you," she says. Yet there was something about Saks—with its rich 90 -year history of dressing style icons like Audrey Hepburn, Jacqueline Kennedy, and Grace Kelly—that drew her in. "I went from saying 'No way' to 'Maybe' to, after a month or so, thinking, 'This will be great. This is the right time. I think we can do this.'" McKee is inaugurating her reign by diversifying Saks's product offerings location by location throughout the US and by bringing in more one-of-a-kind designer pieces, collaborations, pop- ups, and even new categories. "If we want to future-proof our brands," she explains, "our job as retailers is to give the customer the three E's: excitement, entertainment, and experience." In Chicago, that includes The Fifth Avenue Man, a concept newly installed on f loors six and seven of the f lagship store. (For the 15 years prior, the men's offerings were sold at a separate loca- tion across the street; that outpost has been closed.) "We will do a lot of firsts over the next couple of years that are going to be fantastic," she says. "I want to leave the customer breathless." MA continued from page 63 RIGHT: Marigay McKee with Donna Karan and Diane von Furstenberg. BELOW: The new Fifth Avenue Man concept on Michigan Avenue. *on excellence "I wanted to live my life in a way that wasn't mediocre. I always wanted to build something, to exceed expectations. I tried to stay focused on what's going to add value." *on style "As a kid I read Vogue when all of my friends were reading comics. I had a very chic grandmother, and until the day she died at age 99, I never saw her without makeup and her pearls. That was a big influence on me." *on instinct "I don't sit on the fence, ever. I'm very decisive. I have always had this vision of what needs to be done, and it's based on gut. If you're a merchant and you know your stuff, you have a gut feel. Every time I've veered away from it, that's when I've made a mistake." *the joy of giving back "I taught at privileged schools, but on the flip side, I also did prison visiting and young offender visiting. When I first met Oscar [de la Renta], I was visiting an orphanage in the Dominican Republic. It had nothing to do with fashion." RETAIL THERAPY Marigay McKee on success and the city. 64 MICHIGANAVEMAG.COM VIEW FROM THE TOP 063-064_MA_SP_VFT_May-June_14_v2.indd 64 4/16/14 10:55 AM

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